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Dental therapists would serve the needy

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Sunday May 1, 2011 3:12 AM

Dental therapists would serve the needy -

It is too bad that recent writers have criticized the idea of expanding the dental team to include a new mid-level provider
(“Two years not enough for dental-work training,” April 16 letter from Dr. Denise Hering, and “All dental patients deserve
quality care, April 18 letter from Dr. Daniel H. Ward). I find it particularly disappointing that those who criticize are
not proposing an alternate idea that would expand access and lower dental costs.

As the community organizer for Gladden Community House, I see many hardworking adults, children and students who struggle
to find an affordable solution to their dental needs. With few dentists in the area who accept Medicaid and even fewer who
will set up a payment arrangement for needed care, many people are forced to put off dental work until they have saved enough
money to allow access.

This delay in dental care means they often end up in the emergency room with abscessed teeth and other emergency dental problems.
Dental treatment in the hospital emergency room is one of the most expensive solutions to the problem of affordable access
to dental care. And we all pay for this solution in higher hospital fees and Medicaid and Medicare costs.

Expanding the dental-care team to include a specially trained mid-level provider, working under the supervision of a dentist,
needs to be explored. For those of us who get regular dental care and for the dentists who provide that care, the need may
not seem great.

But there are many who live without needed dental care because there is no dentist available or willing to see them. This
is the problem that an expanded dental team would address.